To Preserve or Raze
by Anonemuss14
Summary: Destiny is an unstoppable force, unbound by the wills and wishes of those it passes on its path to every inevitable end. None know this better than Perseus Jackson. A freak amongst the mortals and an outcast amongst immortals, he must decide whether he wants to follow the destiny laid out before him, or shape the world to his own will. Acting Beta: Anaklusmos14.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers. Somewhat against my better judgment, I've decided to start uploading this latest attempt of a story I've come up with. It's basically a re-imagining of the original series and you're all sure to see the differences right off. **

**The start is going to be a bit slow, but I'd ask that you bear with me and just wait while I try to keep ahead of whatever upload schedule I fall into. Odds are that it'll be completely random and sporadic, and it's even more likely that you all look at this and see it for the disaster it is. **

**Either way, I hope that you find some enjoyment in reading and I hope that you stick around for the rest of it. Who knows, maybe I'll actually finish this one. **

**Disclaimer: You all know the drill. **

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**Chapter 1**

"So, what do you say, Percy? Will you help me?" he asked while offering me his hand.

I looked at the offered hand indecisively. Though the offer did hold some appeal, to accept would set me done a path of destruction.

Then again, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to the beginning.

My name is Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson and... well, I never knew who my father was. My mom would only say that I had his aura, whatever that meant. If it meant that he was considered to be freak and loathed by almost everyone around him, then I couldn't agree more.

Everywhere I went people just seemed to hate me. Adults call me a freak and can't stand to be in the same room as me, and other kids are either terrified or furious with me after a single conversation. Then again, I guess that I don't do anything to help with that.

I just can't help it, but every time I meet someone I can instantly see all the bad things about them, all of their weaknesses, and sometimes it can even see what happens to them in the future. I try to talk to them, help them to fix their problems, but I just end up antagonizing them.

Because of this, I spent twelve years of my life without a friend.

"Hey, Percy, what do think about this trip?" Grover asked. Well, except for Grover.

I shrugged. "Not sure, but anything is better than sitting in class all day," I replied.

I saw Grover nod from his reflection in the bus's window. "Yeah, and at least Mr. Brunner is the teacher in charge of this one," he said.

I only nodded. Mr. Brunner is our Latin teacher and currently the only adult, aside from my mom, who could tolerate me and even seemed to like having me around. The only downside to this trip was that another teacher, Mrs. Dodds, was also coming along to watch us.

I've never had a very good track record with adults, especially teachers, but Mrs. Dodds seemed to be the only one to openly hate me and went out of her way to make my life a bigger hell than it normally is.

Our trip was to a museum in downtown Manhattan and, despite how boring it might normally be, I was looking forward to it. Mr. Brunner just had this way of making history come alive.

The ride through the city was pretty uneventful. The other students tried their best to ignore the two of us so we returned the favour. It wasn't until we were at the museum that things started going downhill.

Our group was sitting in front of the museum for lunch after our tour when Nancy Bobofit, an annoying bully who used to pick on Grover, came up to us.

"Hey, Underwood, give me your lunch," she demanded, even though I could clearly see a bag with her name on it on another table.

Grover, never very good at handling confrontations, looked to me pleadingly. "Why do you need Grover's lunch, Nancy?" I asked. "Is your not enough for you?"

Nancy gave me a scathing look. "I wasn't talking to you, freak," she said venomously.

"A verbal reply, you're really angry today, Nancy," I said. "Your parents must have been extra brutal yesterday."

The last remark visibly shook her and she looked at me with even greater fury, if that was even possible. "Shut up!" she shouted. "What do you know about it!"

"So your parents really are fighting then," I replied calmly. "Honestly that was just a guess."

Nancy, now completely focused on me, pulled back her arm to punch me, but I saw it coming from a mile away. I leaned back just enough that she missed me by centimeters and stuck my foot out just enough to trip her without it looking deliberate.

Nancy fell to the ground with a cry of pain and Mrs. Dodds was upon us in an instant. "What is going on here?" she screeched.

Nancy pointed a finger at me from her position on the ground. "The freak pushed me," she said.

I rolled my eyes at the accusation, but wasn't overly surprised by it. I had tripped her after all.

Mrs. Dodds glared at me. "Jackson, come with me," she hissed.

I started to rise until Grover of all people came to my rescue. "Actually, Mrs. Dodds, it was me that pushed Nancy, not Percy," he said. I was more than a little surprised to hear this from my timid friend; Mrs. Dodds terrified him beyond belief.

Mrs. Dodds just glared at him and ordered him to sit down.

"Don't worry about it," I said to Grover. "What's the worst that could happen?" I thought I heard him say something, but didn't get a chance to ask as Mrs. Dodds marched me into the museum.

We passed through the entryway and several deserted halls before coming to a room full of mannequins in old armour with old weapons.

I expected to be lectured about one thing or another, but Mrs. Dodds just stood there glaring at me.

"So, if this is about Nancy, I would just like to say that I did not push her down," I said as the silence became uncomfortably long.

Mrs. Dodds didn't acknowledge that I said anything and just continued to stand there. Finally, she spoke. "What are you?"

I was taken aback by the odd question. "Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"From your scent it's clear that you're a half-blood, but beyond that I can't tell what you are," she said more to herself than me.

"Half-blood?" I asked. I was used to being called many different names, freak and psycho being two of the more popular choices, but half-blood was new and seemed different than the others.

"Could you be the thief?" Dodds mused. "Did you steal from us then seek to disguise yourself by hiding amongst the mortals?"

I was now completely lost. "Actually, Nancy's the thief here," I tried to redirect the conversation. "See she tried to steal from Grover so I—"

"Silence!" Dodds ordered. "I don't know who or what you are, but you're coming with me." As she finished speaking she began change. Her clothes melted away to leathery skin and her hands were replaced with wicked claws.

With an unholy screech the monster that used to be Mrs. Dodds jumped at me with fangs and claws bared. So overcome by shock and fear was I that I almost didn't jump out of her way. The creature flew past me and slammed into several mannequins, causing them to fall to the ground in pieces. One of the weapons that they were holding, an old spear that was surprisingly sharp, landed near me and I picked it up on instinct.

The creature stood up again and screeched a challenge at me. It flew at me again and time seemed to slow down. I knew how to place my spear that it blocked the creatures claws and I knew which direction to move that the creature was thrown to the ground; and I knew where to stab the creature that it was immobilsed, but not killed.

"What are you and why did you attack me?" I demanded as the creature was impaled on my spear. It glanced at me with eyes that were as full of intelligence as they were fury and a chill ran down my back.

The next moment, the creature exploded into flames and I jumped back in fright, losing my grasp on my spear.

When the fire died down, the creature was gone. I was wondering what exactly I was going to do next when I heard a voice calling me.

"Percy, where are you?" it was Grover. He ran into the room the next moment and froze when he saw the mess. "What... happened in here?" he asked tentatively.

I glanced at the scorch mark left by the creature and the burned spear beside it. "I don't know," I replied truthfully. "I think I just killed a monster."

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**If you enjoyed then please rate, comment and subscr... wait a minute; that isn't right. Whatever, leave a review if you feel so inclined and I'll get around to uploading the next chapter eventually. **

**Arrivederci**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, initially I was going to update on a weekly basis, but I decided that at least for these first few chapters I would publish them a bit earlier. Good news to those of you that enjoy it so far. **

**I'd like to thank everyone that followed, favorited, and reviewed for last chapter. It's really nice to know that people enjoy this story.**

**This chapter is also a bit slow, but things speed up in next chapter and things start to happen. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 2**

The rest of the school year seemed to pass in a blur. Grover kept trying to tell me that I had just imagined the whole incident at the museum. I didn't believe him, but when all the other students said that they had never had a teacher named Mrs. Dodds, I started to question it myself.

Regardless, I now found myself in the same situation as I had every year. The point where the school said that I wouldn't be accepted back next year due to "issues".

I don't claim to know much about the school system, but I'm pretty sure those issues have to pertain to grades or acts of violence towards other students or property in order for them to refuse to accept me back. As it was, my grades were, if not perfect, well above passing and any fights I had gotten into weren't enough to get me kicked out. Just like every other school I had gone to, Yancy Academy just didn't want anything to do with me. Whether because I scared them or something I didn't know, but I did know that I was leaving and not coming back.

By this point I had gotten used to such an event and wasn't too torn up about it. The only part that I was depressed about was that I probably wouldn't see Grover again. He gave me a card with his summer address on it, but I doubted that I'd make much use of it. We parted ways at the bus depot and that was that.

On the bus ride back to Manhattan from the depot we stopped due to an engine failure or some other such technical issue. Most of the passengers disembarked to avoid being cooked inside the tin vehicle, even though it wasn't much better outside, and that's when I saw them.

Across the street from us were three old ladies knitting in the shade of a massive oak tree. Their eyes seemed to bore into me from across four lanes of burning asphalt and I felt as though my whole life was laid out before them. I tore my gaze away from their faces and looked at what they were knitting. I couldn't identify what it was, but it was massive and had a wide assortment of colors woven into it. Even though I could still feel their eyes on me, their hands worked at a rapid pace and measured, spun, and cut the threads almost faster than I could follow.

Then the hands suddenly stopped and time seemed to freeze along with them. I looked up and watched as the old ladies reached into a basket and pulled two blue threads from within and held them up to eye level.

"Choose," they said in unison. Though the spoke only in a whisper and across a great distance, I could hear them as clearly as though they were right next to me.

I blinked and they were gone. Time started again and I was vaguely aware that someone was telling me to get back on the bus. The old ladies occupied my thoughts for the rest of the trip into the city.

As I opened the door to my mom's apartment I mentally prepared myself for what I knew I would find.

"Great, you're back," a voice I had come to hate said as I entered the cramped apartment.

'Great, you're still here,' I thought snidely as I took in the sight of my stepfather, Gabe Ugliano. He was sitting in an old recliner in front of the TV watching something or another with a beer can in his hand. Based on the number of identical cans scattered around the place he had either been drinking more than usual or had just come out of a poker game. Neither thought was appealing.

"What happened this time, punk? Get kicked out of another school again?" he taunted.

I ignored him and checked the other rooms for my mom. I didn't find her so I walked back into the main room.

"Where's my mom?" I asked Gabe.

"Out," was all he said.

'Helpful, Gabe, truly helpful,' I thought. I didn't say anything out loud of course; to do so would only encourage a response and I didn't want that.

"Hey, punk, while you're up would you grab me another beer," Gabe said from his seat.

I could clearly see an unopened one right next to his seat and I knew he wanted me to refuse. But, I got an idea and decided to mess with the bane of my existence a little bit. Going to the fridge, I found an unopened soda can and shook it up as quietly as I could manage. Placing it in Gabe's waiting hand. Sure enough, he didn't even look at it as he pulled the aluminum tab.

I held back my laughter as the soft drink exploded in his face and caused him to cry out in surprise. He rounded on me instantly with a furious look in his eyes.

"What the hell was that!" he shouted at me.

I shrugged. "My mistake," I said with a straight face.

For a moment, it looked as though Gabe would get out of his chair and attack me. 'Just try it, you fat bastard,' I taunted in my thoughts. 'See what happens.'

The moment passed and Gabe sunk back into his chair grumbling about how ungrateful and insufferable I was. He reached for the spare beer he'd had and opened it after a glance at it to make sure it was real.

I rolled my eyes and walked into the least messy room. Although it was technically my room, Gabe used as his "study" whenever I was away for school. I didn't really know what he thought he studied, and I didn't really want to know honestly, but it just seemed to leave a mess of old magazines and beer cans in its wake.

I cleared off the bed as much as I could and laid down for a short nap. Hopefully my mom wouldn't be away for much longer. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind that I heard the apartment door open and the tinkling of keys as they were placed on their hook.

"Hey, Sally, your bastard is back," Gabe said from the other room. I scowled at his words, but didn't let them get to me. He wasn't worth getting angry at.

My mom seemed to think so too because I didn't hear a response as she walked to my room and opened the door. I sat up and smiled as I saw her. Even tired and disheveled from working all day, my mom could still look as beautiful as any high-end model, if not more so.

"Hey, how are you?" she asked softly as she sat down beside me.

I gave her a short, but meaningful hug. "Same as always," I said. I wanted to tell her that I was fine and everything was great, but we both knew it wasn't true. If nothing else, I could at least be honest with her.

My mom sighed, but kept up her loving smile. "Well, I'd still like for you to tell me all about what's happened recently," she said. "Was the school good, did you make friends, anything strange happen?"

I laughed weakly. "The school was okay, I guess," I said. "The teachers and students were about the same as always, but I did make a friend this time. His name was Grover and he actually seemed to like having me around for a change." I continued to tell her all about my time at Yancy, omitting only the trip to the museum and the encounter with the old women. Even if my mom was going to worry anyway, there was no need to send her into outright panic over something that might not have even happened.

When I was done talking she looked happy that I had made a friend, but also tired when I mentioned that Yancy wasn't accepting me back.

"I'm sorry, mom," I said sincerely. "I tried to be more... normal, but I just couldn't—"

My mom silenced me with another hug. "Don't worry about it," she assured me. "We'll figure something out. We always do."

'How long will that last?' I didn't voice this and only returned my mom's hug.

"Okay, give me a minute to get changed and then we can head to Montauk," mom said happily.

I smiled. Montauk was a beach on Long Island where my mom had met my dad. She wasn't able to go there very often, since she was busy satisfying the demands of the resident deadbeat, but she always arranged for the two of us to spend a weekend there whenever I was home.

Twenty minutes later, and after assuring Gabe many times that we wouldn't be gone long or break his precious car, we were on our way. The drive there was mostly uneventful as my mom and I exchanged idle talk.

The only thing noteworthy was that dark, ominous clouds sprung up out of nowhere. "Hm, is it supposed to rain or something?" I asked as thunder rolled across the sky.

My mom looked at the sky warily, as though she expected something bad to come down upon us. "It's not supposed to... but who knows?" she replied uneasily.

"Is something wrong, mom?" I asked. My mom wasn't an overly jumpy person, so if something had her scared then it must be serious.

She turned to me with a forced smile. "Don't worry, Percy," she tried to assure me. "Everything's fine. I guess I'm just a bit worried that our weekend will be ruined."

I knew that there was more to it than that, but I didn't push the topic any further. I just wanted to enjoy my weekend with my mom at the beach. However, I had this odd feeling that something really bad was going to happen.

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**That's chapter 2. Like I said, it's really just a bit more setup for things coming in future chapters. I'm not sure when I'll upload chapter 3, but at most it will be next Wednesday. **

**Arrivederci**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back, readers. This chapter is where the shit starts to hit the fan. To those of you who don't like character death, turn back now and do not return. For those of you who are okay with character death but are still affected by it, I recommend tissues. **

**Now, I'm not going to do this every time, but there are a few reviews that I'd like to address in this A/N.**

**To KitsuneDragon: You're right that this is a smarter and more mature version of Percy, but he's not a child of Poseidon this time (obviously), and the truth may surprise you. If you (or anyone else) manages to figure it out, please don't say anything in a review so that the surprise isn't ruined for those that don't figure it out. **

**To Mikeo (Guest): I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but thanks... I guess. **

**To Nerdfigther11: Now there are 3 chapters. Thanks for the support. **

**To everyone else: Thank you all for the follows and favorites. It means a lot that you all are taking the time to read this story and give support. if any of you see things that could have been done better (from a writing stand point, not a story telling one) please feel free to let me know in a review. **

**With that out of the way, enjoy chapter 3. **

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**Chapter 3**

I don't know what it was that awoke me in the middle of the night, but it struck me like lightning and drove any remnant of fatigue from my body. I leapt from my bed and rushed to throw on some clothes. Something was coming and we needed to be gone when it arrived.

Outside of the small beach cabin, the world seemed to be tearing itself apart as rain and wind threatened to batter down the walls. Lightning flashed so often that it gave the illusion of daylight and the roar of thunder rocked the small cabin down to its foundation. It sounded like a hurricane was right outside.

I rushed to my mom's room and threw the door open. "Mom!" I yelled, trying to be heard over the storm. "Get up. We need to go."

My mom stirred slightly from her slumber. "Too early," she mumbled. "Go back to sleep."

"Mom, now is not the time," I said, shaking her roughly to wake her up. Desperation was creeping into my voice as the little time we had to escape kept dwindling away.

Finally my mom seemed to wake up enough understand what I was saying. "Percy, what are you talking about?" she asked, her voice heavy from sleep.

"Something is coming, mom," I almost shouted as I turned to throw some clothes to her. "I saw it. It was a big shadow and it's coming to kill us." As I said this, I realized that I was recalling what had woken up… a vision of my mother dying.

That seemed to grab my mother's attention as she bolted upright. "What?" she asked, all traces of sleep gone now. "What's coming to kill us?"

I paused for the briefest of moments to try and remember what I had seen, but all I saw was a blurry shadow. "I… I don't know exactly, but we need to leave now."

My mom hesitated for a second, as though torn between believing her crazy son or doing the rational thing and going back to sleep. That second became a small eternity as I waited for her response. Finally, her eyes hardened and she nodded to me, her whole body exuding determination. "Okay, go get the car ready and I'll be there in a minute," she said confidently.

I was so relieved to hear that she believed me that I wrapped her in a fierce hug. "Thank you," I said as some of the tension left me. I quickly let go and dashed off to do as she said.

Outside, the weather was much worse than I could have imagined from inside. The rain felt like stones and the cold cut through me like a dagger, but I disregarded all this and rushed to the garage to get the car ready. Even though it was only a short distance from the main cabin, it felt like it was miles away as the rain and darkness reduced visibility to nothing and the wind attempted to topple me at every step.

I reached the garage and thanked any gods that existed that the side door was unlocked. Inside, it was little warmer than it was outside, but at least it was dry. I only took a heartbeat to acknowledge this before I rushed to push the button that opened the garage door. Instantly, the hurricane outside invaded this small pocket of shelter and I had to turn away from the opening as I was buffeted by the wind and rain.

I was about to enter the car to await my mom when I saw something out of the corner of my eye: a shadow detached itself from the greater darkness outside and began to make its way towards me. My heart stopped as I remembered the monster that was going to kill me, but relief washed over me as a familiar called out to me.

"Percy, is that you?" Grover asked as he ran into the garage.

"Yeah it's me," I answered, beyond surprised to find my friend here at this time. "What are you—" I stopped as I noticed something incredibly wrong about my best friend's appearance: not only was he not wearing pants, but someone had replaced his entire lower half with the hindquarters of a goat.

Grover noticed my look and let out a nervous bleat. "Percy, I'm sure that you have questions right now, but I can't answer them right now," he said as he put his hands on my shoulders. "We need to leave right now. Where's your mom?"

As though being summoned to the sound of her name, my mom chose that moment to run into the garage, now clad in a pair of jeans and an old rain jacket. My mother took one look at Grover and didn't seem the least bit surprised that he was here or that he was part goat. "Grover, it's nice to see you but we don't have much time to chat right now," she said breathlessly as she unlocked the car.

"I couldn't agree more, Ms. Jackson," Grover said as he all but threw me in the backseat. "We need to leave. I managed to lose it for a minute, but it'll be here before long."

"What do you mean 'it'?" I asked. They both ignored me.

My mom started the car and tore out of the garage and down the gravel road to the highway as though every demon of hell was behind us. Considering the circumstances, at least a few of them surely were. Nobody spoke for several minutes.

I wanted to ask so many questions. What was after us? Why was Grover here and what was he? What did my mom know about this? But I held my peace for now. There would be plenty of time for explanations once we got… wherever we were going.

"So, where are we going?" I asked from the backseat.

My mom and Grover were in the front seats with my mom driving. "Someplace safe," my mom said vaguely. I turned to Grover for a better explanation only to see him nervously chewing on… was that a tin can? and looking out the window as though he could actually see through the rain.

We made it another few kilometers down the highway when a shiver went down my spine and a cold dread washed over me. "Turn right!" I shouted. Without hesitation, my mom swerved to the right as a bolt of lightning struck right where we had been.

In the ensuing flash of light, I saw a dark mass standing in the road behind us. "It's behind us," I tried to say, only to realize that the lightning bolt had burst my eardrums and probably rendered us all deaf. I could only watch in horror, as the mass barreled towards us like steamroller intent on grinding us into dust.

By some stroke of luck, my mom turned the car back to the left at the perfect moment so that the creature ran right past us. Our luck was cut short as the creature threw out what look like an arm with such strength that the car bent under it and was thrown to the other side of the highway.

When the car finally settled, I was laying curled up as pain assaulted me from all sides. When the pain dulled slightly and the world stopped spinning, I opened my eyes to try and get my bearings. The first thing I noticed was that the car was upside down and that every window was broken. My mom wasn't in the car anymore, but Grover was crumpled between the dashboard and the roof of the car. He looked to be unconscious.

I uncurled myself slowly and crawled out of one the windows, careful to avoid the glass fragments. I rose to my feet, grimacing as my battered body protested the motion.

"Percy," a voice called to my left. I whipped my head in that direction, wincing at the sudden movement. My mom was standing on the other side of the car and looked about as bad as I felt. Her clothes were torn in a few places and blood flowed down her face from a cut on her right temple.

"Mom, we need to get Grover," I said just before a loud bellow echoed out from behind us. It was a sound of such primal rage that it chilled me to the core in spite of the already freezing rain.

My mom and I rushed, as much as we could, to the task of getting Grover out of the car and then trying to shamble off as fast as we could with his comatose body on our shoulders.

"We need to make it to that hill," my mom said through clenched teeth. At first I could only see the darkness around us, but a flash of lightning illuminated the silhouette of a hill with a lone pine tree atop it. It looked to only be a few meters away, but at our pace it might as well have been hundreds of kilometers away. This cheerful thought was accompanied by another thunderous bellow from the creature. It was much closer than last time.

"Percy, you need to take Grover and go," my mom said desperately. "I'll stay back and try to hold it off for as long as I can."

"What!" I shouted. "You can't be serious." The thought of leaving my mom to fight that monster terrified me more than the monster itself.

"Percy, you have to listen to me," my mom said, turning to look at me more intently. "You need to get to the other side of that hill. There are people over there who can help us, but one of us has to stay to keep this thing occupied."

Something about what she said didn't feel right, as though she was lying to me. But the way she was looking at me, and the amount of determination I could sense coming from her made it hard for me to not obey her.

"But, I can't just leave you," I said weakly.

She tried to put on a brave smile and kissed me on the forehead. "Don't worry about me," she said softly. "I'll be fine. Now go." She pushed me with Grover's body towards the hill, urging me to go.

Reluctantly I continued and it wasn't until I heard the beast roar behind me that I turned back. The rain had lessened slightly so I was able to see two shadows, one small and one massive, running around each other as lightning flashed and thunder rolled. I could see that the creature was at least twice my mom's size and obviously much stronger, but my mom was able to avoid it by jumping to either side as it blinding charged it; almost like a matador and a bull.

I stood there watching the two of them in their strange dance and my heart threatened to burst from my chest every time my mom almost failed to dodge. I realized that I was wasting time by just standing there and turned to resume climbing up the hill when a shock went down my spine. I whipped around and watched in slow motion as my mom tried to dodge out of the path of the monster… only to by swept up by one of it's massive arms. I watched helplessly as the creature raised my mom up above its head and bellowed triumphantly.

Even across the distance between us and through the rain, wind, and thunder, I could hear the sound of my mother's neck snapping under the monstrous strength of the creature's hand.

I don't know exactly what happened next, but one second I was halfway up the hill with Grover hanging off my shoulder and the next I was dashing towards the creature with a red haze clouding my vision. With reckless abandon, I threw myself into the creature's exposed side with nothing but pure rage driving me.

The creature let out a surprised moan as I slammed into it and the two of us crashed to the ground. I rolled away from it and jumped to my feet as quickly as possible. In that moment I finally got my first good look at the creature. It looked like a heavily muscled man wearing nothing but some bright white underwear. It looked almost normal, if not for the fact that its head was that of a bull with sharp, curved horns. I now knew what to call it: Minotaur.

The Minotaur rose to its feet clumsily and turned to face me slowly. Its nostrils flared and its black, beady eyes narrowed at me with what I can only assume is rage. It bellowed a challenge at me and it prepared to charge at me like it had my mother.

The thought of my mother filled me with a new burst of rage and, against all rational thought, I charged the Minotaur intent on tearing it limb from limb. The Minotaur was caught off guard the reversal of roles and only managed a clumsy swipe at me with its meaty hand. I easily ducked underneath it and came up behind the monster. It turned to try and face me, but was met by my fist as I drove it into its eye with as much strength as I could muster.

The Minotaur bellowed in pain and rage and blindly swiped at me again. I ducked underneath it and punched it in the other eye. The Minotaur dropped to its knees as its hands went up to cover its damaged eyes. I wanted to punch it again, to break it like it had broken my mother, but a new idea popped into my head out of nowhere and my eyes flew to its horns. I could see tiny cracks on one of them, probably from running into something when it missed us on the highway. While the Minotaur was still in pain, I took a firm grip on one of its horns and put all of my weight into pulling it. The Minotaur tried to pull away from me, but only ended up making my job easier when it's horn broke off with a resounding snap.

I stumbled from the sudden loss of resistance, but regained my balance instantly. I regarded my newfound weapon and noted with a dark satisfaction the cruelly sharp point that the horn ended in. With a battle cry that carried with it all my fury and sorrow, I leapt at the Minotaur and stabbed the horn into a point I knew was just over its heart. I jumped back as the Minotaur began thrashing and roaring in pain, only succeeding in pushing the horn further into its body.

I looked on as the monster began to dissolve into golden dust and blow away in the wind until there was nothing left but a bloodied horn and its dying echoes. With the adrenaline that the battle had given me beginning to disappear, I finally felt the weight of the nights events slam down on me and the ground rushed up to meet me as exhaustion overtook me.

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**So, to those of you who are mad at me for what I've done, I'm not apologizing. Sally's death isn't merely for any feels it happens to inflict, but is very important to the rest of the story. I hope that you can all forgive me. **

**Next chapter will come out within the next week. **

**Arrivederci**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome back, readers. Following up the events of last chapter, this one is significantly slower in pace and not that much happens. Percy enters Camp and it's revealed to him what's going on. You know, almost the exact same things that happened in the book. **

**Percy's godly parent is not revealed yet (though I do expect for at least a few of you to figure it out by the end of this chapter), and I will say that I won't be revealing it for some time now. I'll still be accepting guesses. Everyone is allowed one answer to a guess before I reply with "just wait to read it". One person has already guessed, though they'll get another chance since I'm making up this rule as I type this. **

**With that said, this is chapter 4 of _To Preserve or Raze._**

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Chapter 4

_CRACK_. In the darkness of my subconscious it was the sound that I kept hearing for longer than I care to remember. The events of the previous night play continuously through my mind, but it was almost entirely without sound.

_CRACK_. I kept hearing it over and over again. The crack of the glass before it shattered into a thousand shards. The crack of the Minotaur's horn as I tore it free from its place on the monster's head. The crack of my mother's neck as she was killed… and I could do nothing but watch helplessly.

_CRACK. _I kept seeing the same events as though through the eyes of someone separate from it all and all I could think of was what I could have done differently. Looking back on it, it all seemed so obvious; if I hadn't left my mom on her own then I could have helped her. If I hadn't been such a coward then she would still be alive. If I hadn't… if I had… if I hadn't… if I had…

_CRACK. _Endless different scenarios and events swirled through my mind as I tried and tried to find something that could save her, but it all was ended the exact same way. My mom was destined to die that night. It was completely inevitable.

_CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK…_

* * *

When my finally began to regain consciousness, I found myself lying in a small bed in a dark room. I didn't remember when or how I got here and my body felt incredibly stiff, as though I had been still for a long time. I tried to turn my head and examine the room, but found the simple action to be beyond me so I resigned myself to memorizing the patch of ceiling directly above me.

I don't know how long I was awake before I heard a door open to my right and light flooded my vision. I winced and reflexively closed my eyes against the illumination. I vaguely heard the mystery visitor gasp and close the door quickly. When I opened my eyes again I was looking up at a pretty blonde girl with intelligent, gray eyes. The girl smiled slightly and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, you're finally awake," she whispered. "We were all beginning to wonder if you would pull through for a while there."

'_Who is "we"?' _I thought. _'And where am I.'_ I tried to vocalize my thought, but all that came out was a hoarse breath of air. I suddenly realize how incredibly dry my throat was.

"Oh, right," the girl said before turning to grab something behind her. She returned with a glass of what looked like ice water and a straw. The girl helped me sit up to drink it, saying that it would help me.

In the back of my mind, I humored the thought that drinking something a complete stranger offered me was pretty reckless, but my burning throat and dry mouth decided that it was perfectly trustworthy. Upon my first experimental drink of the liquid I found that it tasted like water and felt like heaven to my throat. I began to drink greedily from the straw until the glass was half empty.

I would have finished off the entire glass in that instant, but the girl pulled it away from me. "Careful, if you drink too much of this stuff it'll kill you," she warned.

I gave the girl an odd look. "Why, isn't it just water?" I asked. Even after only a little bit to drink, my throat already felt back to normal.

Now it was my turn to get an odd look from the girl. "Is that what it tastes like to you?" she asked. "Well, I guess everyone has there own preference. No, this stuff is called nectar. It's the drink of the gods and even though we can drink a little bit of it, too much and we get burned up."

I was silent for a full minute after that, just trying to process what this stranger had said as though it was the most natural thing to her.

I decided to latch onto the thing that stood out the most to me. "Gods?" I asked weakly.

The girl nodded. "Yes, the gods, as in the gods of ancient Greece. You know, Zeus, Athena, Hermes, etcetera. They're still around and…" The girl started talking at an increasingly quick pace, at which I was only able to understand every fifth word. However, by the end of it I think I had gotten the gist of it. "Oh, and my name is Annabeth by the way."

"Uh huh," I said slowly. "I'm Percy." After all that she had just told me, I felt that it was the only thing I could effectively respond with.

Silence filled the room for the next few moments as the girl, Annabeth, gave a minute to process everything. Even though she tried to look and act patient, I could feel an underlying tension. She wanted to say something to me or wanted me to say something to her. I wasn't entirely sure, but right now I was more concerned about understanding my current situation.

"So, where am I exactly?" I asked. She had mentioned a camp in her speed lecture. Something about it being a safe haven for children of the gods, but I didn't entirely see how that concerned me, unless…

Annabeth almost answered immediately, but paused and offered me her hand instead. "Maybe it would be easier if I just showed you."

With Annabeth's help, I managed to stand up and we slowly made our way out of the room. After my eyes adjusted to the much bright atmosphere of the rest of the house, I took notice of the prevalence of 60s memorabilia and variety of bronze weapons scattered about. I didn't get much of a chance to think on it too much as Annabeth hurried me out onto the wraparound deck and the next thing I saw took my breath away.

On the surface, it looked like a normal summer camp with a volleyball court/sandpit right in front of the house and an arrangement of cabins beyond that next to the clearest lake I have ever seen. However, it was the cabins that gave me my first clue that this was so much more than a normal camp. Two of the cabins looked like the had been taken straight out of ancient Athens, gleaming marble and golden braziers burning with smokeless fire standing out amongst the motley designs of the others. One of them seemed to b made entirely of gold, another of silver, and another just seemed to be on fire, but they all looked unique in someway and they all battled for attention as my eyes drifted from one to the other.

Tearing my gaze away from the cabins, I looked out across the rest of the camp and saw further signs that this camp was more than it initially seemed. Scattered structures built out of marble and gold dotted the area and the ring of hammers and screech of metal striking metal sounded out from several of them. My breath was stolen from me a second time as I saw a line of horses spread out sets of great wings and take to the skies.

Among the sheer absurdity and magnificence that this sight presented, there was one thing that I didn't notice until I had seen everything else. The plants, the water, the air, the weather, and the land itself looked, for lack of a better word, perfect. Everything seemed to be completely at peace and radiated purity. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

"This is Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said.

* * *

**POV Change – Annabeth**

After living at Camp for so long and yearning for the opportunity to leave and test myself out in the world, the wonder of the Camp had subsided somewhat for me. I still loved it above any other place on earth, but it was a bit stifling at times. So watching Percy look at everything with such wonder, it brought a warm sense of pride to me. This was my home and I was proud to be a camper here.

I looked down to the other side of the deck where Chiron and Mr. D were playing pinochle. I was sure that they knew we were over here, but they hadn't called for us yet. I was tempted to wait and give Percy as much as he needed before pushing him into anything. We had found him and Grover outside of Camp three days ago and while they hadn't been in the best condition, they would at least survive. We couldn't do anything to help Percy's mother.

Most of the people that came from the outside had arrived with some monster or another pursuing them, and many knew plenty about loss. But, it was rare for a demigod's mortal parent to accompany them here. I could only imagine how hard it must have been for him.

Still, Chiron had asked for me to bring Percy to him the moment he was able to leave his bed. I sighed and tapped Percy on the shoulder. He turned to look at me with a light of amazement in his eyes.

"This… this is… how is this possible?" he asked with a broad gesture at all of Camp.

I laughed lightly. "It's the power of the gods," I said, though I really didn't know the specifics of it either. Now that I thought about it that would be a really interesting topic to learn about. Maybe I should ask Mr. D about… no, stay on topic. I need to take Percy to Chiron.

"It's amazing," Percy said. "I didn't know that anything like this even existed."

"And you'll have plenty of time to see it all later, but right now there's someone who wants to talk to you," I said, taking his hand and beginning to direct towards the two immortals playing cards.

Chiron turned in his wheelchair as we got closer and smiled at us warmly. "Good morning, Percy," he said. "I hope that you slept well."

I felt Percy tense beside me and I could almost feel his mood plummet from amazement to depression. "It was alright," he said simply. "So, you're here too, Mr. Brunner?"

I looked at Percy with concern. He was fine a second ago, but now it was like he was an entirely different person. Chiron noticed the shift too, but made a greater effort to hide his concern. "Yes, I'm the activities director here and my name is Chiron," he said calmly.

Percy nodded slowly. "The trainer of heroes," he mumbled. "So, this place really is a haven for… for demigods."

Chiron nodded, though he cast a momentary glance at me. 'What happened?' his eyes asked.

'I don't know,' I tried to convey back.

Chiron turned back to Percy and tried to maintain his mask of kindness, but I could see some cracks appearing and I got the feeling that Percy could too. "Demigod is the technical term," Chiron said. "Most of us here use 'half-blood' as a means of identification."

Percy was silent for a moment as he looked over my mentor blankly. "I think I already know the answer," he began. "But, does all this mean that I'm a half-blood?"

"Yes, the fact that you were able to enter the borders of Camp and drink nectar means that it is very likely that your father is a god," Chiron explained.

Percy's brow furrowed. "My father?" he asked. "Do you know about my father?"

"Not a bit, kid," Mr. D said, speaking up for the first time since we had gotten here. "I was actually hoping you would be able to shed some light on the subject."

"Mr. D, now is hardly the time for—" Chiron started to say, only to be silence by a glare from the god of wine.

"If you had your way then there will never be a right time, Chiron," Mr. D snapped. "With everything that's going on right now, we can't afford to take any chances. I was hoping to talk to the mother, but now that that's out the question this kid's the only one who could know anything."

I took a quick step back from Percy as I felt the temperature drop around him and a sudden wave of depression washed over me. Chiron and Mr. D noticed too and their heads snapped to look at him. I suddenly realized the reason for Percy's bizarre mood swing.

"What the…" Mr. D started to say. He stopped short when Percy turned a scathing glare onto him. I half expected for the Olympian to drop dead in that moment.

"Don't talk about my mother like she is only some kind of tool, Olympian," Percy said darkly. "Her life was worth far more than yours will ever be."

Cold dread filled my body as my eyes darted from the terrifying demigod in front of me to the paralyzed god next to the discarded pinochle game. I knew that if he wanted to, Mr. D could probably turn Percy into ash without batting an eye, but right now it felt like he was nothing but a child compared to Percy.

"Perseus, please calm down," Chiron said desperately.

Percy blinked like something had stung him and the dark aura faded away until everything was back to normal. "What… what just happened?" Percy asked, somewhat in a daze.

Chiron and I exchanged another glance. "We were talking about your mother," he said cautiously. The instant that the words left his mouth, Percy's face contorted itself into an expression of pain and sadness, but it seemed like natural sorrow rather than… than whatever had just happened.

"Oh," Percy said. For a moment, I thought that he was going to break down and cry, but then his face hardened and the pain shifted into blank acceptance. It was still sad, but nothing more.

"Would you like to see her?" Chiron asked tentatively.

Percy shook his head. "I don't want to see her like that," he said plainly, without a hint of any other emotion.

Chiron looked like he wanted to say something, but only nodded solemnly. He looked at me, asking me to do something.

"Come on, Percy," I said, my voice coming out in a small squeak. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Come on, I'll show you around the camp."

"Sure, lead on," Percy said without looking at me.

I sighed and turned to leave the porch. Percy followed behind me silently. I wasn't entirely sure what it was I had just witnessed, but I knew that I was going to find out one way or another.

* * *

**I would like to say that I'm not a very emotional person and I've never really experienced true depression since I was really young. So, my interpretation of Percy and his actions is probably unrealistic. **

**I hope that you all enjoy it in some way, but I'll understand if you think that I don't know what I'm doing.**

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: As most of you probably know, classes are back in session which means that many a person's free-time has been destroyed with extreme prejudice, my own included. I'll try to keep with the weekly update basis, but I hope that you all understand if that doesn't happen. If I go three weeks without updating, feel free to tell me to get my shit in order unless I give a specific reason. **

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you stick around for more.**

**EDIT: I said last chapter that I don't want people to send guesses through reviews so that it doesn't ruin the surprise for people who don't figure it out. That means guest reviews as well. Please take this into consideration. If you want to guess, please do so via pm. **

**Arrivederci**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome readers. I'm really ahead of schedule for this update, but I'm in a really good mood tonight so I decided that I was going to give you this chapter early. Well, I deliberated on it for several hours and I'm now really tired, so please enjoy. **

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**Chapter 5**

It only occurred to me about halfway through the tour that I was now an orphan. With Gabe being the trash that he is and my mom being… dead, I was now without a home.

'_Maybe I'll get lucky and my real dad will realize that I exist,' _I thought sardonically. I knew that the chances of this happening were nonexistent. If he hasn't shown up by now then he probably never will.

I sighed internally and decided to pay more attention to what Annabeth was saying. I should probably learn more about his place if I was going to be living here. She had been showing me around the camp for the past twenty minutes and had been talking non-stop for about as long.

"Over here is the forges where the campers create or repair weapons and armor," she explained, yelling to be heard over the ringing of hammers and roar of flames. "It's mostly managed by the Hephaestus cabin since it's their home territory, but a lot of the Ares cabin hangs out around here too."

Hephaestus, god of forges and fire, and Ares, god of war, I thought as she rattled off names. Just from looking at the crowd of people surrounding the forges, it would be hard to tell which people fell into either group. They all looked to be well built and as ethnically diverse as can be expected. For me though, it was simple to see the Ares kids apart from the Hephaestus kids. Several of them had a red aura that radiated power and aggression; those were the Ares kids. The rest had a fiery aura that sparked and flared with every beat of their hammers, the Hephaestus kids.

I wasn't sure how I was able to see this, but it just came naturally and was as simple as seeing someone's shadow. Looking at Annabeth, I noted that she had a gray aura that radiated curiosity, but also great pride. I was somehow able to tell that she was a child of Athena even though she hadn't mentioned it yet.

"Percy, are you okay?" Annabeth asked.

Hearing my name made me jump. I hadn't realized that I had just been standing there staring at her. "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied quickly.

Annabeth looked at me oddly. "Are you sure? You were looking at me strangely."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I apologized. "I was just lost in thought is all."

Now Annabeth looked interested, but I could also feel a lot of tension and nervousness coming from her. She was afraid of something. "What were you thinking about?" she asked tentatively.

I considered my options. I didn't really want to tell her that I had been examining her aura, which would probably come off wrong. I could try to redirect the conversation, but she was probably too smart for that. Finally, I settled on the safest option. "It's nothing, let's continue the tour," I said.

Annabeth frowned slightly and I knew that she wanted to pursue the subject, but she nodded and turned away. "Alright, I think that I'll show you the cabins now," she said tersely.

'_Note to self: Annabeth doesn't like not knowing things,' _I thought to myself as I followed the blonde girl.

As we got closer to the cabins I began to feel a strong aura in the area. It seemed to emanate from the cabins, so I wondered whether or not the gods used some of their own power to maintain the buildings. However, a quick glance at cabin eleven made me think otherwise. It was the closest to a traditional camp cabin as it got and had the peeling paint and decrepit look to match.

Upon further inspection, I saw a girl in a brown dress sitting by the central fire pit. She wasn't talking to anyone and just seemed to be tending the flames. It seemed to be an odd practice since it was the middle of summer, but that wasn't the only strange thing about her. I noticed that the powerful aura seemed to be coming from the girl. It radiated warmth and protection and made me feel better, if only slightly. I wanted to go and talk with her, but Annabeth was still giving her tour.

Tuning back into what she was saying, Annabeth was explaining that each of the cabins represented one the twelve Olympian gods and the children of those gods would live in their respective cabin when they arrived at camp and were claimed.

"Claimed?" I asked. I felt Annabeth become uneasy again and she stumbled over her words to answer.

"W-well, when the gods choose to officially recognize a half-blood as their child, they will send down a sign of some sort to declare it to the world," she explained. That made sense, but she was leaving out information.

"But…" I prompted.

Annabeth almost winced. "There is also the unfortunate circumstance where a god won't claim a child as its own and that child is placed in the Hermes cabin as unclaimed," she said.

"I see," I said slowly. So that explained why the aura coming from cabin eleven was so unfocused. I could only imagine how many unclaimed half-bloods were in there. I looked towards the median of the cabins' formation and noted that the two large cabins and the one beside them were all empty.

"What about those cabins?" I asked, pointing to indicate the three cabins. "There's no one in those cabins."

"No, there's not," Annabeth agreed. "Those cabins belong to Hera, Zeus, and Poseidon. Hera's cabin is completely honorary and has never had an actual occupant since it was put there. The other two, well they've been empty for a long time too."

I sensed several underlying tones in regards to the last statement. There was a story behind why they were empty, but I didn't ask about it. Annabeth seemed uneasy enough without delving into potentially painful memories.

"So, I'm unclaimed, right," I said, changing the subject away from the empty cabins,

Annabeth nodded. "At least for now," she said. "There's a chance that your godly parent will claim you now that you're actually at camp. There have even been times when a camper who has been here for years will randomly get claimed."

I tried to not frown at this. The thought of my father claiming me now, after all that had happened, left a bitter taste in my mouth. I tried to push the thought from my mind as Annabeth directed me towards cabin eleven.

"So, this is where you'll be staying until your godly parent decides to claim you," Annabeth said, oblivious to how much the idea was grating on me.

She walked up to the old, wooden door and knocked twice to announce our presence. She had barely pulled her hand back when the door swung inward to reveal a lanky boy with a mischievous aura; a son of Hermes.

"Hey, Annabeth," he greeted cheerfully. "What brings you here?"

Annabeth stepped aside so that the boy could see me. "You've got a new cabin mate, Travis," Annabeth said. "This is Percy Jackson."

I raised my hand in a small gesture of greeting. "Hi," I said.

Travis hesitated a moment as he looked me up and down, almost like he was sizing me up. "He's the one who fought the Minotaur?" he asked Annabeth.

Anger flashed through me at the mention of the monster. I tried my best to hide it, but they must have noticed because Annabeth was much less confident when she answered. "Yeah, he is," was all she said.

Travis looked me over once more before opening the door wider. "Well, I guess that you'd better come in and meet everyone else," he said.

I stepped into the cabin slowly, careful to not trip on the threshold, and took stock of the sight before me. In a word, it was cramped. There were at least a dozen bunk beds in the cabin, but there was still a startling amount of sleeping bags and air mattresses covering every square centimeter of floor space with only a small footpath to the rear bathroom. I counted eighteen campers in the cabin, not including Travis, Annabeth, and myself, and most of them weren't even children of Hermes. However, one them in particular stood out to me: a blonde boy, almost a man, in the back with a scar running down his face. His aura identified him as a son of Hermes, but I could also sense something else coming from him, something much darker.

"Everyone, this is our newest camper, Percy Jackson," Travis said, making an effort to sound upbeat despite the apathy and almost annoyance coming from the other occupants.

"Is he Hermes, or unclaimed?" one camper asked.

Travis hesitated, so I decided to answer for myself. "Unclaimed," I answered. There was a collective groan from the other campers. It appeared that campers being unclaimed was far more common an occurrence than Annabeth had told me.

The scarred camper from the back made his way up to me with a welcoming smile on his face. "Come on everyone, is that anyway to welcome a new camper?" he asked. "Sorry about that, they're not always this unpleasant. I'm Luke, by the way."

Luke offered me his hand to shake. I hesitated for a moment, his dark aura putting me on edge, but I took his hand and shook it. Beside me, I could feel Annabeth shift almost imperceptibly, straightening her posture and attempted to look at ease, but I could feel a nervous tension coming from her. It seemed to be directed towards Luke.

'_Note to self: Annabeth has a crush on Luke,' _I thought.

"So, Percy, let me be the first to officially welcome you to cabin eleven," Luke said amiably. "I'm the senior camper and counselor for this cabin, so if you have any questions just come to me, okay?"

"Thanks, I'll be sure to do that," I replied, trying to sound conversational, though I think I failed. I wanted to go back and talked to that girl by the fire. Something about her seemed important.

A few minutes later, after Luke and Travis had helped me get set up on a patch of floor beside the door and had introduced me to the rest of the cabin, I was able to leave cabin eleven and try to talk to the girl. I looked towards the fire pit and she was still sitting there tending the flames.

I approached the girl and sat down across from her. If she noticed my presence, she didn't display it. She merely continued tend the fire with a iron rod. After a full minute of silence I decided to initiate conversation.

"Hello," I said simply. The girl didn't react. "Um, can you hear me?" No response.

I remained sitting there for some time, waiting for something to happen. But, as the minutes dragged on and the girl maintained her silence, I decided that I should just leave. "Nice talking to you," I muttered as I left. I was halfway back to cabin eleven when I turned and looked over my shoulder. The girl was gone.

* * *

Some time later, I was walking around camp in an attempt to familiarize myself with where everything was when a voice called out to me.

"Hey, Percy," the voice shouted.

I turned around and saw Grover approaching me from the woods. His legs were still furry and cloven, but it had been explained to me by Annabeth that my friend was a satyr, half-man and half-goat.

Seeing Grover reminded me of the encounter with the Minotaur and the shadow of sorrow rose up despite my best attempts to suppress it. All the same, I tried to force a smile and not appear too depressed; I didn't need to make Grover feel worse than he must already.

"Hi, Grover," I said. "Where've you been?"

My attempts to not draw concern must have failed again because Grover's demeanor changed from happiness to concern immediately.

"I've… uh… been talking to my bosses," he said uncertainly. "Listen, Percy, I'm really sorry about what happened. My job was to protect you and I really tried to help your mother, but it all—"

I raised a hand to cut him off the moment he mentioned my mom. "It's alright, Grover," I said in just over a whisper. "I know it wasn't your fault, but please just… just drop it."

Grover swallowed nervously and it looked like he wanted to say something, or maybe even give me hug. Luckily, he just nodded and bowed his head. "Alright, I can do that," he said miserably. I felt bad for saying what I had, but it was done and couldn't be taken back. This was just something that he would have to overcome.

"So, Percy, do you want to—" Whatever he was going to say was cut off as he froze and paled in fear. I turned and saw three girls walking towards us from the direction of the arena. Based on their blood red and aggressive auras, as well as their rough-and-tough physiques, it was easy to identify them as daughters of Ares. The apparent leader of the trio, an older girl with messy brown hair and cruel brown eyes was walking towards us with a predatory smile on her face. The girls flanking her didn't seem particularly interested in us, but either respected or feared the middle girl to not say anything.

"So, you the new kid?" the middle girl asked when she was within easy talking distance. "The one who killed the Minotaur?"

There was a mocking edge to her voice and her entire being exuded arrogance and strength. I was immediately wary of her, but didn't show any outward signs of it. "Maybe," I answered carefully.

The girl scoffed. "What kind of an answer is that, runt?" she asked. "You either did it or you didn't. Which is it?"

My eyes narrowed slightly. This girl was better at annoying me than even Gabe. I was almost impressed. "Then yes, that was me," I replied. "What of it?"

The girl's smile widened slightly, obviously enjoying the thought of a challenge. "Oh nothing much, I just wanted to see the guy who managed to fight off something like the Minotaur," she said, eyeing me up and down with an analyzing gaze. "Honestly, I'm less than impressed."

She was trying to bait me, to make me angry. I was getting annoyed that this girl would make light of the monster that had caused me so much pain, but I tried to avoid rising to her challenge. I might have been able to defeat a stupid cow, but I didn't like my odds against her in a fight.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," I said evenly. "I'll try harder next time." I turned to leave, nodding to Grover as I passed him, only to be stopped by a large hand on my shoulder. I was spun around and came face to face with the girl.

"Hold on there, runt," she said sadistically. "I wasn't done with you yet." Grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, the girl turned and began dragging me towards the communal restrooms near the cabins. "You see, you might have beaten the Minotaur and gotten into Camp alive, but there's a special initiation ceremony we do around here to welcome fresh meat."

It took me about half a second to realize what she was talking about and I was less than amused. "Seriously?" I asked as I struggled to keep my feet under me. This caused the girl to stop in her tracks and glare at me in annoyance.

"Excuse me, what was that?" she asked.

I motioned towards the restrooms. "This initiation of yours, you're going to dunk my head in a toilet, right?" I asked incredulously.

The girl's glare intensified. "Yeah, so what?"

I raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" I asked. "That's your big plan? That's kind of weak."

This caused the girl to push me away roughly. I almost fell to the ground, but managed to maintain my balance. "Oh really, and I suppose you have a better idea," she said in a very much 'you don't have a better idea, just let me kill you' way.

I took a second to go over my options. What would help me avoid a potential drowning by toilet, the eternal wrath of this crazy girl, and help me prove myself to this camp? "Well, you guys train to be warriors at this camp, right? So, what about a duel?"

The girl, her friends, and Grover all looked at me like I was crazy. "A dual?" the girl asked as though it was strangest thing in the world. "You want to dual me?"

Not necessarily you, but no going back now. "Sure, unless you're afraid or something," I said, laying on the confidence a bit thickly. This girl didn't seem like the type to turn down a challenge, so I provided a challenge.

The girl looked at me like I had started speaking in another language for a moment longer before she started to laugh. It started out as a low chuckle and built until it was a full on laugh that could probably be heard from the other side of Long Island.

When the girl had calmed down and wiped the tears from her eyes she turned to me with a cheshire cat grin adorning her features. "You must be completely insane, runt," she said. "But, I accept your challenge. Meet me at the arena in thirty minutes."

One of the other Ares girls sighed. "Come on, Clarisse, don't drag this out," she said. "Just dunk the kid and let's go."

The girl, now named Clarisse, turned her glare towards her sibling and silenced her. She turned back to me. "Thirty minutes, runt, don't be late."

With that final threat delivered, Clarisse and her lackeys stalked off to the arena, probably to get ready for the fight.

I let out a sigh of relief and turned to Grover. "Well, that could've gone worse," I commented.

Grover's jaw dropped even further, if that was possible, and he looked like he was already looking at a dead man. "Are you serious, Percy?" he asked in equal parts incredulity and as close to anger as I had seen from him. "That was Clarisse La Rue, the strongest daughter of Ares in camp. You don't just challenge her to a dual, much less on your first day."

I shrugged. What was done... was done, no going back. "It looks like I just did," I said calmly. "Besides, how bad could it be?"

* * *

**As usual, do whatever you want to express how you felt for this chapter. I'll update eventually. Sleep beckons. **

**Arrivederci**


	6. Chapter 6

**(Insert obligatory intro here)**

**So, I'm apologizing if the fight between Percy and Clarisse is underwhelming. I'm not very good at writing fights and the whole idea was kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing. However, it accomplishes a few necessary things. **

**You'll hopefully see what I mean as you read it. **

**So, please enjoy chapter 6 of _To Preserve or Raze._**

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Chapter 6

"Percy, do you even know what you're doing?" Grover asked. He had calmed down significantly since I had challenged Clarisse; though he still thought I was being an idiot. I couldn't really blame him.

"Of course, I'm looking for a weapon," I said. We were currently in what Grover had referred to as "the armory", but that would be giving the glorified garden shed a bit too much credit. In reality, it was a 7-meter by 10-meter shed filled to bursting with wooden shelves, bronze weapons, veritable mountains of dust, and more than a few spiders. One would think that a combat camp would keep their armory in better condition.

"Yeah, but do you even know what to look for?" Grover asked. "Have you ever used any of these weapons?"

"I used a spear once to kill Mrs. Dodds," I said. "By the way, would you care to explain any of that?"

Grover deliberated for a moment before sighing. "Sure, I guess there's no reason to keep it a secret anymore," he muttered. "Mrs. Dodds is a monster sent to spy on you. We're not sure why she wanted to know about you specifically, but you're safer now you're here at camp."

I wasn't sure how much I believed that. The camp didn't seem to have a wall or any other visible defenses. But, Grover probably knew something that I didn't. There didn't seem to be any point in worrying… yet. "So, did this monster have a name, or was it just Mrs. Dodds?"

"She's also known as… well, we call them Kindly Ones."

"Why's that? Does something happen if you say their true names?" I asked as I sorted through a collection of swords and daggers.

"Not exactly," Grover said, choosing his words carefully. "Names are powerful things, Percy. When it comes to immortal beings, like monsters or gods, you don't just throw them around carelessly. It's an old taboo that saying a monster's true name, even in Camp, can call them to you."

I paused in my search through the weapons. Something Grover had said had put up a red flag in my head. "What do you mean when you say that monsters are immortal?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Exactly what it sounds like," a new voice said. "Even if we kill them, they'll just eventually come back from Tartarus."

Grover and I both looked towards the entrance to see Luke standing in the doorway. He didn't look very happy.

"So, when I killed the Minotaur…" I trailed off. I wasn't sure how to react to this news. The thought that the Minotaur would come back from the dead while my mom never could filled me with anger, but the knowledge that even death couldn't stop it enveloped me with a cold dread.

"It was just dispelled back to the Underworld," Luke explained. "Like I said, it'll come back eventually. It might be in a few centuries, or it might already be back. If nothing else, the monsters are resilient bastards. But, we can talk about that later. Right now I want to know why everyone is saying that you're fighting Clarisse."

I pushed the thoughts of the Minotaur aside for the moment; I could dwell on them later. "She started it?" I said experimentally.

Luke sighed. "Yeah, I bet that she did," he muttered. "But, she usually doesn't go much further than a dunk in the toilet for new campers; a dunk in the lake if she's feeling particularly mean though."

"Yeah, that was her original idea," I admitted.

Now Luke looked confused. "Then what did you say to her to get this?" he asked. "Because if you got her mad enough to challenge you then you might as well—"

"I challenged her," I interrupted.

Luke looked completely lost now, his mouth was slightly open and I could practically see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to process what I had said.

"Come again?" Luke said after a moment of complete silence.

'_Why is this so hard to comprehend?'_ I thought to myself.

"I. Challenged. Her," I said slowly, enunciating each word so that he could understand. It probably wasn't the best idea to act like this to my counselor, but I was getting annoyed.

Luke's expression then underwent an interesting transition from disbelief to anger, back to confusion, once more to anger, and finally rested on tired resignation. "I suppose you have a valid reason to do this," he said somewhat condescendingly.

"I do, actually," I said confidently. Luke arched an eyebrow.

"Do tell," he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

"Fine," I said as I tried to think of a way to bullshit my way out of looking like an idiot. "Well, the first thing I'd like to say is that I don't intend to actually win."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Of course not," he said sardonically. "Against someone like Clarisse, it's not really a matter of wanting to win or lose. There are only a few people in Camp who can take her on and stand any chance of winning, and you are not one of them."

I scowled at Luke. "But, I'm not just going to let her win easily," I continued. "I'm going to show her that I'm not just going to be pushed around. If I put up a good enough fight, she'll see that I'm not just some new kid who got lucky. Besides, it's better than the alternative."

Luke tried to look indifferent, but his aura betrayed the fact that he was intrigued. He took a moment to think over what I had said before nodding slowly. "Well, I guess that I've heard worse ideas," he said dryly. "I mean, you're still going to get beaten into a bloody pulp, but Clarisse does have a certain amount of respect for people who stand up for themselves."

I turned back towards the weapons, confident that Luke wouldn't try to stop me. "Right, now all I need is a weapon," I said more to myself than Grover or Luke. "Speaking of which, what can you tell me about Clarisse?"

Luke thought about it for a moment. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

I shrugged slightly. "What's her preferred weapon? How does she fight? Does she mess around with opponents or is she efficient? I just need to know some things to show that I can put up a fight," I explained.

Luke nodded thoughtfully before beginning a full description of Clarisse as a warrior. Apparently, she was adept with most weapons at Camp, but favored use of the spear. She tends to be overconfident when fighting inexperienced fighters, but would probably still wear armor. She tends to fight really aggressively, but will probably toy with me early on before going in for the kill. Lastly, but certainly not least, Clarisse had a quick temper and was known to lose herself in a fight once it was ignited.

"So, whatever you do, don't make her mad," Luke reiterated. "As long as she treats this like a normal workout, she's unlikely to try and completely break you. But, if she loses her cool, then there's no telling what she'll do."

"Comforting," I said sarcastically. We were currently walking towards the arena. I had selected a bronze spear for my weapon. It wasn't the sharpest weapon in the shed, literally, it was off-balance by a considerable amount, and was uncomfortably long at a full 3 meters from end to end. I had forgone armor since it probably wouldn't help me anyway and I was running out of time.

"Exactly, now just remember what I've told you and you might live to see tomorrow," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the help, Luke, really," I said sincerely. "It means a lot that you'd help me like this when you don't have a reason to."

Luke smiled and clapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, you're in cabin eleven now and I look out for my own," he said. His aura showed that he was sincere, but that he was also hiding something. There was still that dark presence coming from him that I didn't really want to ask about, perhaps some other time.

"Well, wish me luck," I said as I entered the arena from the competitor entrance while Luke walked off to enter the stands.

I entered the arena through a short passageway and a bit surprised to see over eighty people lining the seats. Luke hadn't been kidding when he said that _everyone_ knew about the fight.

"So, you actually showed up," the other occupant of arena floor said. "Some of my siblings were taking bets on where you'd run off to. It looks like I won though." Clarisse, just as Luke had said, was wearing a set of Greek armor, minus the helmet, and had a bronze spear balanced on her shoulder. It was about as long as mine, though it looked much sharper and was probably all around much better than my own.

She had an imperious smirk on her face and a dangerous glint in her eyes. Her aura practically radiated with confidence.

I steeled my nerves and walked until I was a comfortable distance from her. I wasn't entirely familiar with how to use a spear, but I tried to recall pictures I had seen from the books in Mr. Brun— Chiron's class. I widened my stance, bent my knees slightly, and turned slightly so that my left side was towards Clarisse. I tried to level the spearhead at Clarisse, but the imbalanced weight made steadying it difficult. Then again it didn't have to be perfect for this fight.

"What's the matter, runt, got nothing smart to say now?" Clarisse taunted. "You know, I'll give you one last chance to escape a beating if you get on your knees now and beg."

I didn't say anything. Talking would break my concentration and that was something I couldn't afford to do against my much more experienced opponent. When I didn't respond, Clarisse's confident smile fell away, only to be replaced by an annoyed scowl.

"Not talking to me, are you?" she asked. "Come on, make this interesting at least."

More silence. Clarisse sighed. "You're no fun," she muttered. She followed this statement by quickly twirling her spear and throwing it at me like javelin.

I hesitated for half a second, caught off guard by the rapid attack, before jumping to the side. The spear barely missed my shoulder and my eyes unconsciously followed its path past me. I caught my mistake instantly and ducked as Clarisse's fist sailed over my head. I rolled to the side and blindly lashed out with my spear. I heard the spearhead hit another metal surface with a sharp _TING_ and Clarisse let out a muffled _oof._ I looked up to see her take a step back with one hand over her abdomen.

She looked down at where my spear had hit in disbelief. Honestly, I could barely believe it myself. Had my spear been sharper, or my arm stronger, I might have impaled Clarisse right then.

I was torn from my thoughts as Clarisse let out an almost animalistic growl and wrenched her spear from the ground viciously. "Alright, runt, I was planning on going easy on you, but now you die," she said through clenched teeth.

I had only a heartbeat to prepare myself before I was assaulted by a flurry of spear stabs. I ducked and weaved through most of them and managed to use my own spear to redirect most others. Had I moment to think, I might have wondered how it was that I was managing to do such a feat. As it was, I didn't wonder how I was able to see where Clarisse's spear would be a moment before it was there, I didn't wonder why I was able to see when she was over-extendeding herself or made a minor miscalculated strike, and I barely acknowledged the fact that her spearhead would zap me with small bursts of electricity when it got too close to my skin; I just knew that I could and that it was the only reason why I was still breathing.

Unfortunately, my ironclad defense couldn't last forever. I could feel myself getting slower, or maybe Clarisse just got faster as her rage mounted. I could still see Clarisse's attacks coming, and I still knew what would help me avoid them, but I also found it harder and harder to actually react as my arms grew heavier and heavier. The spear, heavy and unwieldy though it had always been, now seemed ten times heavier and twice as long.

I'm not sure exactly when it was that I realized that the fight was over. It was probably when Clarisse swung her spear at my head, intent on taking it off my shoulders, and I had raised my spear in a desperate attempt to block it. I knew that it wouldn't work. Clarisse, even after all of her attacking, was still much stronger than me and I didn't have the energy to try deflecting this strike. I knew that it wouldn't work. But, I was surprised when Clarisse's spear, in a brilliant flash of electricity, snapped my weapon in half at the impact point. I tried to throw my head back and avoid the juggernaut of Clarisse's spear, but I didn't quite manage it.

I felt a burning sensation as the electrified spearhead cut a long gash across my face from above my left eye down to my right cheek. That, along with the flow of electricity through my broken weapon, effectively had me on the ground with a bleeding wound on my face, but arms too numb from shocks to try and alleviate the pain.

I felt a weight on my chest and a sharp point was placed on my throat, but my eyes were squeezed shut as I tried to keep from crying out in agony.

I managed to force one of my eyes open and saw Clarisse standing over me, one foot on my chest and her spear ready to end my life. Clarisse was breathing heavily and her face was beaded with sweat, but the spearhead didn't waver as it hung over my jugular.

I could feel the cold touch of unconsciousness begin to creep in as the pain became too much to bear. As darkness enveloped my vision again and all feeling began leaving me, I had just one thought: in hindsight, the toilet might not have been so bad.

* * *

I woke up sometime later in much the same situation as I had earlier that day. At least, I assumed it was still the same day. It could have been another three days for all I knew.

I needed to not turn this into a habit. _'Note to self: stop getting into fights.'_

I tried to open my eyes, but I didn't have the comfort of darkness this time and instantly closed them again.

"So, it would appear that the great warrior lives," a familiar voice said.

"Luke?" I asked. I heard the older camper chuckle.

"Yeah, it's me," he said. "But, the important thing here is you. How do you feel?"

Now that I thought about it, I didn't feel like I'd just been put through a blender. I mean, I still felt bad, but not in an "I'm going to die" kind of way. It was definitely an improvement compared to how I had felt immediately after the fight.

"Not terrible," I said. "A bit sore, but otherwise I think I'm fine."

"That's good," Luke said. "It wouldn't be a very good day if you had died or been crippled."

'_Every the encouraging leader, aren't you, Luke.' _I thought wryly. I tried once more to open my eyes and managed it after taking a second to adjust to the brightness. Looking around at my surroundings, I noted that I appeared to be back in the Big House, but it looked more like an infirmary wing, complete with three other beds taking up space on this wall while the other was predominately filled with medicine cabinets and what I assumed was a chemistry set… that had an alarming amount of warning symbols on it, and seemed to be burning green fire, and rather than water seemed to have beakers filled with blood, and… maybe I should focus on something else.

I turned my attention to Luke and saw that he had a glass of water in his hand. He offered me the glass.

"Here, this should help," he said.

Oh right, drink of the gods. It still looked, tasted, and felt like water, but it did rid me of my residual weariness and pains.

As I sat there sipping at the "nectar", Luke was telling me about what had happened after I lost consciousness.

"After Clarisse broke your spear, it was all over. She had you on the ground with her spear against your neck and, I'll be honest, I thought that she was going to kill you right there."

"Obviously she didn't," I deadpanned.

"Obviously," Luke agreed. "But, shortly after that she calmed down and called for one of the Apollo campers to come help you. She got really mad when no one immediately jumped to it. It was actually kind of funny to see the entire Apollo cabin try to run each other over just to get to you."

I hummed in agreement. "So, what happened after that?" I asked. "You know, beside the obvious that they brought me here and kept me from dying. Oh, and how long was I out?"

"Not that long, about an hour or so," Luke replied with a glance at a nearby clock. "Yeah, the Apollo kids brought you here and patched you up. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that your modeling days are behind you."

I raised an inquisitive eyebrow at that and Luke in turn held up a hand mirror. I saw with mild surprise that I now had a long, white scar running diagonally across my face where Clarisse had cut me. I probably should have been more freaked out by it, but not really. I was just glad that I hadn't lost an eye or something like that.

"It wasn't very deep, so there's not much internal damage," Luke explained. "Well, beyond what was already there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Who's the one that thought challenging Clarisse to a duel when they don't have any combat experience was a good idea?" he asked.

I couldn't really argue against that, so I just hummed in acknowledgment and continued to look at my new scar, becoming accustomed to the new look of my face.

"Well, maybe I'm not giving you enough credit," Luke admitted. "You did much better than I had expected, especially with that early hit. With a bit of training, and maybe a bit more muscle, you might just be able to win your next fight."

I scoffed at that. "Yeah, next fight," I said sarcastically.

Our conversation was cut off by a knock on the infirmary door. Luke and I exchanged a glance before he rose to answer it. Whoever it was, it seemed to surprise him quite a bit. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a hint of hostility creeping into his voice.

"Nothing much, I just want to talk him," I heard the voice of Clarisse answer.

I could see from Luke's aura that he was going to refuse, but I also wanted to talk to Clarisse. "It's alright, Luke," I said. "You can let her in."

Luke looked between Clarisse and me uncertainly for a moment before relenting and stepping aside to allow the daughter of Ares entry. Since the fight, Clarisse had exchanged the armor for an orange t-shirt (from the logo it appeared to be the camp's official shirt) and a pair of worn out jeans. She walked up to my bed and took a seat in the chair previously occupied by Luke.

"So, how're you holding up, runt?" Clarisse asked.

"Better than I was a while ago," I said truthfully. "Your spear hurts a lot."

That caused Clarisse to crack a small smile. "Yeah, Maimer has that affect on people," she said. "But, listen… I'd like to say… um, you know… that I'm…"

"Sorry?" I supplied. Clarisse scowled at the word, but nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I got a little carried away back there and I could have killed you," she said with a miniscule amount of shame present in her tone and posture, though I could sense how much she really regretted her actions from her aura.

"It's no problem," I said. "I was asking for it."

Clarisse's smile grew. "Yeah, and you certainly put up one hell of a fight," Clarisse praised. "I'm impressed."

I was about to respond when Clarisse raised a hand to stop me from speaking. "But, it still needs quite a bit of work," she said. "You'll never win a fight if you spend the entire time dodging and blocking."

True, but where are you going with this. "Right," I agreed. "But, isn't that what I'm here for; to learn how to fight and survive?"

Clarisse nodded. "Yeah, but not many people show as much potential right out of the gates as you have. You could try to learn everything from Chiron and the other instructors, but I might have a better idea."

I had an idea of where this was going, but it still seemed unlikely. "And that idea is?" I asked.

Clarisse's smile grew to the Cheshire cat grin, but it now seemed more mischievous than dangerous. "I was thinking that I could train you," she said.

I had somewhat expected that this was her idea, but it was still very surprising. "Really? You want to instruct me?"

"Why not?" Clarisse asked. "You need to work on your offense, and I'm the best there is when it come to dishing out punishment. Besides, it's been a while since someone besides Luke has been able to provide me with a decent challenge. I'd be happy to train you."

Clarisse made some sense. She most certainly knew her way around a spear, and she was apparently one of the top warriors in Camp. It would be stupid of me to not accept her help.

"I'd like that," I said. "So, if you'll have me, I would like to train under you." I offered Clarisse my hand to shake. This was not the best idea as she took it in her own crushing grip.

"Well then, let's hope that you don't disappoint then," Clarisse said. "Your training begins tomorrow at dawn, runt. Just head back to the arena."

"I'll be there," I said as she rose to leave. "And, Clarisse, thanks." Clarisse smiled and nodded as she left.

That night as I was falling asleep in cabin eleven, I thought about all that happened today. It had begun looking incredibly bleak, ant there was still an empty feeling in my heart where my mother used to be, but, all things considered, my future didn't look so bad. With Clarisse's help, I would become stronger. I would be able to defend myself and those that I cared about. Never again would I helpless. Never.

* * *

**Again, this story will not be for you if you can't stand poor fight scenes. If you need a really good fight scene to balance this out or something, then I recommend RWBY. **

**Bad writing aside, I also tried to show another of Percy's powers in this chapter. I call it "shatter point" and I'll let you guess at what it can do and its weaknesses. **

**I'm probably going to be busier than normal in the next few days, so next chapter might be delayed somewhat. I'm not sure yet, but don't be surprised if this ends up being the case. **

**I hope that you enjoyed and please stick around for more. **

**Arrivederci**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The first week at Camp Half-Blood passed in a blur. It was just a rush of new information from one second to another as I tried to remember names, locations, rules, and all manner of other things that were probably important. By the time that Saturday rolled around I felt as though I had learned more in seven days than I had in six years at school. Probably an exaggeration, but that's beside the point.

My days were divided between trying to familiarize myself with the camp and everyone in it, learn the complete history of Ancient Greece via the University of Annabeth, and get combat training beaten into me from Clarisse from sun up to sundown. It left very little time to think about anything and I couldn't be happier for it. I sometimes felt myself dwelling on what had happened on the hill last week, and the work gave me something else to focus on.

However, there was one thing that I couldn't help but notice; even here, among veritable freaks and strange phenomena, I was still the outcast. I'm not sure why I expected things to change from the rest of my life, but nearly everyone at camp was either afraid of me or held a substantial amount of apprehension towards me. It must be my father's "aura" rearing its ugly head again.

I could feel suspicious eyes following me as I walked through camp and conversations stopped as I drew near. Even in the claustrophobic nightmare of cabin eleven people tried to keep their distance from me. It only really amounted to a few centimeters of extra space, and it was silly of me to be upset about it given the circumstances, but the fact that even my fellow unclaimed campers avoided me hurt more than I wanted to admit.

The only people that didn't seem bothered by me were Luke, who acted almost like an older brother by showing me around camp and teaching me a bit of swordplay when I wasn't too busy; Clarisse, who, while not exactly the friendliest of people, treated me no differently than I saw her treat any of her siblings; and several of the Athena campers, who regarded me as more of mystery for them to solve rather than a freak or a threat. It was a bit of a step up, but not by much.

Regardless, I felt like it was important that I should be here. It was a small thought in the back of my head, but I knew that important things would be happening soon and I needed to be here for them. The first of these important events was Capture the Flag tonight.

CLASH. Clarisse's spear rang against mine as I parried another of her strikes. I shoved her back and feinted for her head. Clarisse took a step back and gave me the opening necessary to strike at her legs. I had been training with Clarisse since our fight on the first day and I had learned a few things about how she fights since then. One of these things was that she favored her right side a lot more than her left. I'm not entirely sure why she did, but right now I could use it to my advantage.

Just as expected, Clarisse didn't react fast enough to stop me as the blunt end of my spear hit the outside of her left joint and forced her onto one knee. From there I sidestepped another spear thrust and slashed at her right arm, opening a small cut on the forearm. I had intended to cut an artery and have Clarisse drop her weapon, but I missed my mark and did nothing more than give her a little cut. I bit back a curse as Clarisse jumped back to her feet, the head of her weapon coming within centimeters of my face.

I backed up and took a moment to consider my next move. Her mobility was stunted due to her injured knee, but the reach of her spear and its electric head would make capitalizing on this difficult. I was about to charge in for another attack when Clarisse lowered her weapon and motioned for me to do the same.

"Not bad, runt," Clarisse said with a tired chuckle. "You almost had me there for a second."

I shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe, but I missed my target," I said.

Clarisse looked at the cut on her arm. "Yeah, you'll need to work on that."

Her advice given, Clarisse turned and walked to the side of the arena where a canteen of nectar was laying. The cut on her arm healed as she took a few sips of the divine drink.

"So, what's the plan for tonight?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"Kill everybody and get the flag," Clarisse said easily.

"Right, it's good to know that we have a plan," I said sarcastically.

She walked past me and hit me in the shoulder "playfully". "Don't worry about it, runt," Clarisse assured me. "With you and Castellan backing up the might of the Ares cabin there's nothing the Athena cabin can possibly do against us."

I wasn't so sure. I had heard some things about the Athena campers and their ability to plan for every contingency. The alliance Luke had made to help the Ares cabin during Capture the Flag meant that our team – the red team – had some of the best fighters in camp, but the Athena campers had allied themselves with the Hephaestus cabin and that meant tactical ingenuity paired with mechanical might. It was a scary thought.

"I guess we'll see," I said dryly. I glanced at the sky and noted that it was almost sundown. Leaving Clarisse to her own devices, I exited the arena and walked towards the Hermes cabin.

It was a short walk to the cabins and I kept my gaze straight for the entire time, but I could feel the dirty looks I was getting. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that they were either Apollo or Athena campers. As Luke had told me, Hermes cabin was normally allied with them against Ares cabin, so the fact that we had "betrayed" that alliance didn't sit well with them. To make matters worse, many of them seemed to think that I was responsible for this.

This didn't overly faze me since I had become nearly desensitized to the ire of others; it was just something I had to live with. When I finally reached the Hermes cabin I was glad to see that there were only a couple of other people in it and both were in the back doing their own things. I would be allowed a few minutes of peace for now.

By the force of a habit that Luke had drilled into me from day one, I did a thorough check of my belongings to make sure that nothing had been stolen. Apparently this was a common occurrence in the cabin of the god of thieves, though I couldn't think of a reason why. However, the first thing I noticed was that I had instead received a package that hadn't been there before.

It was a small black box that lacked any identifiable markings aside from two words written on the front in gold: _For Percy_. I cautiously picked up the box and weighed it experimentally in my hand. It was light, but seemed to be filled with something. I pulled off the lid slowly and made sure to keep it away from my face; I had heard bad things about pranks in this cabin and one could never be too careful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the box didn't explode, but instead only contained a small, ballpoint pen and a note.

I picked up the note first and looked over the elegant cursive several times, trying to make sense of it. _'I hope that this helps,'_ it read.

I turned the note over to see more text. _'You may not want to open it inside.'_

I raised it inquisitively and flipped the note over again and was surprised to see that new words had replaced the original message. _I mean, you could if you want to, but I don't recommend it,_' it now read.

I turned the note over again a few times to find that all previous text was gone and it was a blank slip of paper now. Setting the magic post-it note aside for the moment, I looked at the other contents of the box: the pen. Upon first glance, it looked like a normal office pen; plastic shell, cap with a stainless steel ring connecting it to the main body, and it probably wrote in black ink. It didn't seem impressive and I almost wanted to open it right then just to spite the post-it note, but something held me back.

Deciding to err on the side of caution, I picked up the pen and immediately noticed how absurdly cold it was. I wasn't exactly expecting it to be warm, but it felt as though I had picked up a shard of ice. Shaking of the uneasiness that had begun to settle in my mind, I took the pen and walked to the back of the Hermes cabin. I held the pen horizontal to the ground in my right hand and kept it as far away from my body as I could manage, not risking the chance that this was a deadly trap or some very elaborate prank… or both.

I pulled the lid off of the pen slowly, but immediately dropped it as it elongated into a massive bronze spear. I could do little more than stare at the new weapon before me as it literally appeared out of thin air. It was roughly 3 ½ meters long and had a leaf-shaped bronze head on one end and a wicked looking bronze spike on the other. I cautiously picked up the weapon and was amazed by how light and well balanced it felt. I had been training with numerous spears for the last week, but all of them had felt heavy and awkward in my hands. Now I had a spear that seemed perfect in nearly every way suddenly appear from nowhere.

I was inspecting every centimeter of the spear when I noticed something peculiar. It looked like it was made from Celestial Bronze when I looked at it straight on, but if I really focused on it or looked at it from the sides of my eyes, it changed to look like a darker metal. Iron, perhaps?

I was drawn from further inspection of my new weapon by the sound of a conch horn sounding in the distance. Instinctively I placed the cap on the spearhead and watched as it condensed back into pen. I placed the pen/spear in my pocket and ran off to join my team for Capture the Flag.

I arrived at the edge of the forest just as Chiron was beginning his speech. He was explaining the rules about how the creek was the boundary and that no killing was allowed. I mostly tuned him out as Luke waved me over.

"Where've you been?" he asked. "Clarisse said that you left the arena an hour ago, but no one's seen you anywhere."

For the first time I realized just how much time I had spent admiring my spear. "I was preoccupied," I said evenly.

Luke didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but didn't push the subject and only led me to a table laden with pieces of bronze armor. I had just finished tightening the last strap on the breastplate when Chiron blew his conch horn again. The games had begun.

"Come on, Percy," Luke said as he ran into the forest with the rest of red team. "You're on guard duty for tonight." I followed Luke and several other Hermes campers through the forest until we came to a pile of boulders known as Zeus' Fist. Honestly, I didn't really see a fist so much as a bunch of misshapen rocks thrown into a pile, but I guess the gods' egos had to be sated somehow. Who knew, maybe the lord of the skies was extremely proud of this pile of rocks.

Luke climbed to the top of the boulders and placed the flag so that it was securely fastened and could be clearly seen.

"Okay, so here's the plan," Luke said from his metaphorical soapbox. "You four are going to stay here and guard this flag." Luke pointed at me, the two Stoll brothers, and a fourth son of Hermes whose name escaped me. "The rest of you will circle around to the left of the forest and cause as much damage to the other team as possible. I'll sneak around to the right and get their flag."

"Will do, Luke," Travis said, giving his counselor a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, give 'em Hades," Connor said. "We'll keep the flag safe here."

Luke nodded and motioned for the other campers to head into the forest while he dashed in another direction.

"So, now what?" the son of Hermes asked after a minute of inactivity.

"Now we wait," I replied as I leaned back against Zeus' Fist to keep watch on the forest. The Stolls shrugged and set about setting traps around the perimeter of the clearing. The son of Hermes grabbed his bow and climbed a nearby tree to get a better vantage point.

Ten minutes passed by without activity. The Stolls had grown tired of trap setting and had instead moved on to play the most elaborate game of rock-paper-scissors I had ever seen. The Hermes camper was still in his tree, though his lack of any real movement led me to believe that he had fallen asleep. Even I could feel the weight of boredom pressing down on me as I began to inspect the rocks I was sitting on. It was kind of funny what could amuse you when you truly had no other options. Looking at a rock for ten minutes straight was about as entertaining as it sounds, but I did find a weird inscription on a portion of the rocks. A Greek Delta was carved into the side of Zeus' Fist and I almost touched it, but something told me that now wasn't the time for it yet.

After another five minutes, I was close to joining the slumbering son of Hermes when a strange sensation ran through me. I glanced off into the forest to my right and, while I didn't see anything amiss, something told me that danger lurked there.

"Hey, I'm going to go check something out," I told the Stolls. "I'll be back in a minute." I didn't wait for a reply as I walked off into the forest, careful to avoid the traps laid down by the brothers earlier. I didn't get far before the uneasiness I had felt earlier grew into a cold feeling of dread. I pulled my pen from my pocket and unconsciously uncapped it. Just like before, the writing utensil transformed into a full-length Greek spear and I twirled it experimentally in my hand to get a feel for the balance of the weapon. The perfection hadn't changed since I had last activated it and I couldn't hold back the slight smile that came over me in spite of the fear around me.

My attention snapped from my weapon to my immediate surroundings as I heard rapid footsteps running towards me. I didn't see anything at first, but then I saw a slight shimmer as an indistinct shape charged towards me from amongst the trees. I immediately dropped into a fighting stance and lowered my spear point towards the approaching creature. I was about to impale the invisible creature when it changed to reveal Annabeth running towards me with a Yankees baseball cap clutched tightly in her hand. A bronze knife was in her other hand and she was breathing heavily.

"Annabeth?" I asked in confusion as she almost ran into me. I quickly turned my spear away from her to avoid injuring her.

"Percy!" she yelled at me, panic laced through her voice. "We have to go, come on." She tried to run past me, but I grabbed her arm and turned her around to face me.

"Slow down, Annabeth," I said calmly, trying to ease her off of whatever edge she was currently on. "Could you explain to me exactly what's going on?"

"Percy, there's no time," she almost shrieked as she shook of my hand. "We have to run before—"

A colossal roar from behind us cut off the rest of Annabeth's sentence. I spun around to see a massive black dog running towards us from the direction Annabeth had just run from. It looked like a large greyhound and its red eyes promised pain and death if it caught me. Its aura radiated pure violence and animalistic savagery.

For a solid second I stood there frozen in fear of this great beast before a strange calm washed over me. I twirled my spear once more before lowering into a ready position. I waited until the hound was almost upon me before rolling to the side and allowing the hound to pounce on empty ground. I spun quickly and stabbed my spear into the leg closest to me and watched in slight amazement, as the appendage seemed to "melt" and get absorbed by my spear. So far I had seen Mrs. Dodds burst into flames, the Minotaur explode into golden dust, and now a big dog dissolve into shadows. I wasn't entirely sure how any of this really worked, but I didn't allow myself to dwell on it at the moment. I jumped back as the hound tried to bite me with its powerful jaws. With one leg gone its mobility was greatly hampered and its massive size offered me plenty of targets to hit.

I dodged another few attempts by the hound to bite me and allowed it to tire itself out. On its last attempt, I spun my spear like a quarterstaff and used the spike on the end of my weapon to slice at the side of its face. The hound recoiled and howled in pain. The sound resonated across the entire forest and I doubted that anyone hadn't heard it.

It wouldn't matter very much since I stepped forward and drove my spear into the hound's exposed throat. Just like with its leg, the hound began to dissolve from the neck outwards and be absorbed by my spear until nothing was left.

I took a deep breath to settle my racing heart and realized that Annabeth had been sitting nearby watching the whole fight with a slack-jawed expression.

"How… how did you do that?" she asked in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" I replied. The fight had seemed rather simple. Surely Annabeth had seen things far more impressive that this during her time at Camp.

"That was the biggest Hellhound I've ever seen,' she elaborated. "It probably would've taken Luke several minutes to kill it, but you beat it in one."

"Really, it seemed like it took longer," * I commented simply. I highly doubted that this Hellhound would've given Luke much trouble.

*(This is a subtle reference to the fact that writing a scene takes more time and thus feels more drawn out than the scene is when you read it. This is generally the case for me and I assume for other writers too.)

"So, why was that thing chasing you?" I asked.

For the first time since I had met her, Annabeth seemed to be at a loss for words. "I don't know," she said uncertainly. "Hellhounds are normally confined to the Fields of Punishment in the Underworld. I don't even know how this thing got into the camp. The barriers are supposed to keep them out."

'Fields of Punishment?' I thought. Grover had said that Mrs. Dodds was one of Hades' torturers. It seemed like an amazing coincidence that these two monsters associated with the lord of the dead seemingly appeared at random. I was about to ask Annabeth about this when the feeling of dread returned suddenly. It was followed quickly by another roar; identical to the one I had heard moments ago.

Annabeth and I spun to see another two Hellhounds, easily as big as the one I had just killed appear from the shadows of the forest. The both leapt at us at the same time and I knew that I only had time to react to one. On instinct I threw my spear like a javelin into the forehead of one of the hounds. It died just like its brother and my spear fell to the ground a short distance behind it. However, the other hound was now too close for me to do anything about it and I doubted that Annabeth's dagger would do anything substantial to it. I was prepared to feel the hound's claws rip me to pieces when it suddenly was thrown of course and landed on its side several meters away from us. I saw the shaft of an arrow sticking out of the hound's neck as it whimpered in pain. Another arrow slammed into the monsters heart and it released one last pitiful howl of agony before exploding into golden dust.

I turned to see Chiron standing amongst the trees, a massive bow in hand and several armored campers flanking him on either side. Within moments, the entire area was full of campers from both teams.

"The games are over for tonight," Chiron said firmly. "All campers are to return to their cabins immediately. Counselors shall report to the Big House in the morning, you too as well, Percy."

I nodded numbly as the campers lingered for a second longer to throw me suspicious looks before leaving for their cabins. Muttered conversations started up around me and I could only imagine what they were about.

I looked towards where I had thrown my spear and my heart nearly stopped when I didn't see it there. However, I sighed in relief when I felt my pen in my pocket. Apparently it was impossible for me to lose my new weapon.

Annabeth gave me a strange look as she walked past me and I knew that her curiosity had reached an all-time high. She wanted to ask me questions, but held them back for now and joined her cabin mates as they left the forest. I found Luke and, after giving a brief summary of what happened, followed him back to the Hermes cabin. I didn't get much sleep that night as thoughts of tonight and tomorrow kept swirling around in my head.

In the end, only one thing became clear: the spear was sent by my father.

* * *

**So, I suppose some explanations are in order as to why this is so late. The simplest answer is that I was very busy. My schedule has been taken up lately by a plethora of activities that leave me both physically and mentally exhausted and writing simply isn't that high on my list of priorities nowadays. **

**That said, I'm not abandoning this story and i'll try to continue it whenever I have a chance, but my situation won't get much better for a few months yet so I wouldn't expect new chapters to come out very often. **

**Well, some nice reviews might encourage me to write some more. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)**

**But seriously, since my last update a lot of people have begun following and favoriting this story and I want to give a big thank you to everyone. It means a lot to me that you all take the time to read what I've written.**

**Until next time, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and stick around for more. **

**Arrivederci **


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